Reaching Across
by JillDragon
Summary: Optimus has a bad day and Dinobot gets sick of waiting for the other shoe to drop.


All in all it hadn't been his best day, Optimus Primal reflected morosely. He should have know that no matter how well they had hidden Rhinox's new energon-refining device that Megatron's fliers would still be able to spot it. Despite having set Cheetor as a sentry the Predacons' attack had still caught them all off guard.

No one had been killed, thank Primus, but it was energon-chilling how close they'd come. During the fire-fight a stray shot had struck Rhinox's machine which had somehow managed to ignite the entire energon deposit. They'd just about been blown sky-high.

Dazed and singed, the Predacons had easily driven them off, pursuing them halfway back to the base before Megatron had called them off; mockingly thanking Optimus for the sport he'd provided his troops.

_In other words, we got our afts well and truly kicked. _

The destruction of Rhinox's machine would put them behind in energon production for orns. Because, while energon wasn't scarce, energon that was in a form they could actually _consume_ was. Their current equipment was only able to refine enough for immediate consumption – they didn't have enough to store – and now they _still_ wouldn't.

Tigatron was the only serious injury and he was currently being repaired in one of the CR chambers. Everyone else was sitting around, tired, sore, and cranky. They were angry at Cheetor for letting himself get distracted from sentry duty, they were angry at Rhinox for not knowing the dangerous flaw in his machine. _And they're probably angry at me for just about _everything _right now__._

The atmosphere inside the _Axalon_ was ugly and he could just _feel_ the incipient fight brewing. All of a sudden he found he couldn't deal with it. He felt a surge of bitter resentment at the other Maximals for perpetually making him deal with their arguments and problems. Why couldn't they sort themselves out for once?

Immediately he felt guilty for thinking like that. He was their leader, he had a responsibility to lead and guide them. Naturally they would look to him.

_I need to go outside and clear my head,_ he decided reluctantly.

"I'm going out," he told Rhinox flatly. The other Maximals all turned to look at him, surprise written on their faces. "Just….keep everyone from killing each other while I'm gone, please," he told his old friend tiredly. Trying not to notice their concerned or curious expressions, he made for the lift.

Once outside he felt better and he let out the breath he hadn't realize he'd been holding in. Transforming into beast mode he had to force himself not to break into a run as he headed away from the _Axalon_ and all the headaches it contained.

******  
He couldn't ignore the pangs of guilt he felt for up and leaving his crew like that, though realistically he'd done all he could for the moment. Staying and probably losing his temper at them all wouldn't help. Usually immersing himself in field work made him feel better and in a few cycles he'd go back better able to handle the situation. This was what he'd been trained to do - discover new worlds and study new life forms - not fight a war against other Cybertronians. Of all his accomplishments the one he'd been the proudest of was graduating with honors from the Science Academy. His creators hadn't seen it that way, but that was the way it went sometimes.

The water hole was a good place for observing the planet's life-forms. When the planet's rotation caused the local climate to become hotter and drier and water became difficult to find the wildlife tended to stay close to any place they could get a drink. Optimus had found, with some trial and error, that if he stayed downwind and didn't make any sudden movements the organics would become used to his presence far more easily than if he hid himself or stalked them – maybe because that was predatory behavior to them.

A large elephant-like creature approached the watering whole, scattering the smaller herbivores that had come to drink. Optimus turned on the recording device; he'd seen animals like this one before, but only at a distance. It was enormous – his scanners told him that it was 4.37 meters tall at the shoulder – and it had two curved tusks growing downward out of its chin and a short, thick trunk in contrast to the Terran elephant.

He watched curiously as it drank its fill from the pool and then ambled off in a stately manner to a grove of skinny-looking trees where it began using those odd tusks to strip bark from the branches and consume it. Smaller organics took its place at the watering hole, including a herd of small-ish hoofed organics. They bore some resemblance to equines, but he knew from examining the leg bones of an old skeleton Tigatron had shown him that in addition to a hoof they also had two extra toes on each foot – although these seemed too short for use in walking.

Then something seemed to startle them, making the elephant fan out its large ears and trumpet in alarm. The equines scattered in a flurry of dust and the elephant followed them, moving surprisingly fast for such a bulky creature that didn't have the advantage of servos to aid it.

Optimus stood up and scanned the now deserted watering hole curiously – he wasn't alarmed (yet) as it was much more likely that some sort of predator had spooked them.

Then he heard a distinct, sharp tapping noise from the rocks behind him. He spun around to see Dinobot crouched there, watching him with a rather bored expression. The tapping had been the sound of the large claw on his foot striking the stone.

"Those non-sentient beasts clearly have better survival instincts than you do," he said by way of greeting.

He fought down his surprise and annoyance, "Hello Dinobot," he said neutrally, "What brings you here?" He wondered if something had gone amiss back at the _Axalon_ - maybe he shouldn't have left...

"Your usual lack of concern for any ambushes Megatron might have set for you," Dinobot said, a disdainful expression on his face.

"I'm not as unwary as you think," Optimus said, trying to inject a note of humor into his voice – unfortunately it came out sounding more annoyed than anything else.

"Oh? Such as that time at the lake I'm sure," the ex-Predacon sneered. His rough voice held that same provocative tone he had used when they had first met each other. The tone that made Optimus want to give him a punch in the faceplates. But he's already firmly decided several months ago that he wouldn't let Dinobot goad him; violence didn't serve any purpose and getting into an insulting match would only make him look childish. He didn't really have Rattrap's talent for snappy come-backs anyway.

"I suppose you're right, I was pretty careless then," he admitted equably. "Though I like to think I learned my lesson since then."

From the blank look that crossed the utahraptor's face it obviously wasn't the answer he'd been expecting out of Optimus.

The Maximal leader tried to divert the subject, "Anyway I'm not doing anything that you'd probably find interesting, so you don't have to stay on my account." _And you're scaring away all the wildlife,_ he thought. The current life-forms on this planet might not be familiar with the creature Dinobot had chosen for his beast-mode, but they obviously knew a dangerous predator when they sensed one.

"I believe I shall stay," the warrior replied flatly – and didn't elaborate any further.

That left Optimus in a quandary. He could order Dinobot to leave – the ex-Predacon would always obey a direct order from Optimus, even though he might not be happy about it. But Optimus was a civilian first - if he'd wanted to go around barking orders all the time he would have stayed at the Military Academy. Yes, he could do it in combat when the laserfire was flying and his battle programming kept him too keyed up to really _think_ about that. But to do it now just felt ridiculous and it made him feel so…so…petty.

"Suit yourself," he told the raptor, "Why don't you come down here then? Those rocks can't be comfortable."

Dinobot, who was clearly enjoying having a perched that placed him above Optimus, studied him with narrowed eyes – but whatever he saw he seemed to make up his mind quickly and bounded down from the ridge in an impressive show of agility.

As always Optimus had to keep a sharp rein on his beast-mode instincts at first. The borrowed, primate part of his cortex was quick and reactive, sending subconscious alarms that the Predacon was a threat to be feared. It was fortunate that these organic instincts didn't have more control over their conscious thoughts. Optimus, Maximal leader, didn't fear Dinobot; he respected him and, after the incident with Scorponok's botched virus, thought that perhaps he might even like him a bit – for all that Dinobot seemed to go out of his way to be unlikable.

"Is everything alright back at the _Axalon_?" he asked.

"Everything was normal when I left – such as it is," Dinobot informed him. "Surprising," he added, as if in afterthought, "Considering their leader failed them so miserably in battle."

That caught Optimus like a blow to the stomach, and he clenched his fists, almost overcome by the surge of anger he felt at the accusation. It wasn't much different from his inner guilt and perhaps that why it stung so much. "It wasn't my best moment," he admitted, trying to keep his voice even. _You_ know _he's baiting you – be the better mech, Optimus_.

"You're their commander," Dinobot snapped with more vehemence than usual, "A leader who cannot bring his soldiers to victory or destroy his enemies isn't worth being called a leader."

Primal felt his temper rise; this was an old argument, and one they have been hashing out since the day Dinobot became a Maximal, with no end in sight. "We're not soldiers Dinobot, and I never wanted this to turn into a war. If I can end this without shedding any unnecessary blood on either side I _will_!"

Dinobot hissed, eyes flaring bright. "Then you're a fool and not fit to lead."

"Look, if you came here looking for a fight, I won't give it to you!" Optimus snapped, "We settled that the day we joined forces."

"We settled nothing!" the warrior growled.

Optimus met his gaze, refusing to let the other stare him down, "Well I'm not going to fight you – it's _not_ the Maximal way." He mentally beat himself up - obviously he'd been an idiot to believe that Dinobot might be inclined to feel more friendly towards him.

Dinobot abruptly broke the staring contest. "As if you know anything about what the real Maximal way is." There's was a tight, hard note in his voice that Optimus had never heard before and he thought for a moment he saw a ghost of something cross the Predacon's face. He wanted to ask, but Dinobot wouldn't let him, "What sort of leader won't even meet a challenge against him?"

Optimus knew he was all but calling him a coward and that drew out a sharp retort, "A leader who doesn't see the sense in causing more harm when we've already had enough done to us today! You may not believe it, but violence isn't the solution to everything."

"Of course," Dinobot retorted sarcastically, "You think that if you make enough of your ridiculous speeches at them, the Predacons will give up without a fight."

He stalked back and forth in a circle around Optimus, seeming oddly agitated by something. Abruptly he whirled on Optimus, "I would _never_ have chosen to follow you if I'd had a choice."

"I know, you've implied as much before," Optimus said flatly, trying not to feel hurt. He supposed that it was better to hear the truth, brutally blunt as Dinobot might deliver it.

Optimus' lack of reaction seemed to anger him even more. "And you just _stand_ there…and you do _nothing_!" Dinobot's voice rose. "You are a Maximal, and despite the insignia I am still a Predacon. In other circumstances I would be your enemy and do my best to tear you apart. You trust _far_ too easily."

Optimus was reminded against his will of what he'd heard people say about Predacons – about how they were vicious, treacherous and completely untrustworthy. It made him feel uncomfortable, though he told himself that Dinobot wasn't like that – his sense of honor wouldn't let him be.

There was something going here, he realized, something other than the mech trying to vent his frustrations by giving Optimus a hard time. "You're not my enemy and I don't what to be yours Dinobot." He could see the other mech was tensed and slightly crouched as if was bracing himself for something. Did he really think Optimus would attack him? "Dinobot….I'm not Megatron," he was surprised by how gently it came out.

Dinobot jerked back as if he'd been slapped. He stared at Optimus, clearly at a loss for words. Abruptly he turned away with a huff of frustration and stormed off without another word. He disappeared into the underbrush with only a few rustles and cracks to announce his passage.

Something significant had clearly just happened but Optimus wasn't entirely sure what it was. For a mech who liked to speak his mind Dinobot could be annoyingly hard to read, he thought ruefully. He didn't know if the raptor's abrupt exit from the argument was a good sign or a bad one. Should he be worried? - Not that he wasn't already. He always felt vaguely guilty when it came to Dinobot, even though logically he knew he couldn't have possibly controlled the circumstances that had lead Dinobot to join his crew. He still felt he owed the ex-Predacon…something.

Deciding that there wasn't anything he could really do about it right now, he sat down and started organizing and cataloging the data he'd gathered. _Compiling reports that no one might ever read if we can't find a way off this planet._

He'd been convinced that Dinobot wouldn't be coming back, but he was proven wrong several cycles later. To Optimus' sensitive olfactory senses the mech reeked of blood and death, and he assumed that the raptor has killed and presumably eaten some unfortunate organic creature.

Dinobot made a great show out of licking the blood off of his talons and around his mouth, making Optimus turn away, feeling slightly ill. Dinobot wasn't the only Maximal who hunted organic creatures for food - Tigatron and Airazor's long range patrols kept them far away from the base for weeks at a time and it was impractical for them to carry that much energon with them. Still, neither of them made such a point of enjoying it so as much as Dinobot did.

Of course, right now Dinobot was waving it in his face just to bother him. Optimus let him have that victory if it meant so much to him.

"It was wounded."

Optimus turned to give the raptor a questioning look.

"It would have died anyway if I hadn't slain it."

"Oh," Optimus said. He wasn't sure what difference it made at first, but if he thought about it he supposed that it didn't make Dinobot any worse than any other predator that inhabited the savanna, killing the sick, old, and infirm, and leaving the strong.

It seemed like a good way to describe Predacon culture in general.

He went back to work and tried to ignore Dinobot's presence. The ex-Predacon didn't seem inclined to continue the argument and he stayed out of Optimus' way. Eventually it stopped bothering Optimus.

_It's amazing what you can get used to, _he thought with wry amusement._ Maybe I'll even get used to this military commander gig one day._

########

He wasn't sure why he had felt compelled to explain his kill to Optimus. Dinobot shook off the uncomfortable thought that he might actually want the young Maximal leader to think better of him.

Optimus' behavior never failed to confuse him.

As he sprawled in the shade of a clump of bushes to ward off the heat, he reflected that he'd learned through much bitter experience in the course of his life that noble ideals the Maximals and their Autobot predecessors supposedly preached were nothing more than blatant hypocrisy. He didn't think that many Maximals even truly believed in them any more than the Predacons did and just trotted them out whenever it was convenient. At least Predacons were honest about their brutal natures.

But Optimus seemed to actual believe all the rhetoric about justice and loyalty and mercy, and had even made it part of his personal principles.

He couldn't believe that anyone was truly that idealistic. He had been so _sure_ that Optimus would show his true colours if only Dinobot dug at him hard enough. Megatron too could feign an air of kindness and understanding, but his former second in command knew that it only hid self-serving ambition and a cruelty that bordered on sadism.

He had thought that Optimus was using a similar ruse – to lure him into a false sense of security or perhaps to coax more information on the Predacons out of him. Dinobot was determined not to be taken in. But as time went by, despite his careful scrutiny, the façade showed no cracks. It drove Dinobot half-mad.

Surely this wasn't the _real_ Optimus Primal! Which was why, in exasperation, tired of constantly waiting for a strike that never came, he'd deliberately gone and provoked Optimus trying to bring out the truth.

He thought he might have seen it before, when the Maximal leader had been infected with Scorponok's virus. But yet Optimus had fought against himself long past the point where Dinobot was sure any other mech would have succumbed. And he's prevailed.

_It's isn't what we are that defines us, so much as what we do._ He wasn't sure who had told him that piece of wisdom – perhaps his long-dead teacher; it didn't really matter.

And Dinobot had begun to doubt that he understood Optimus at all.

He had grown so used to hating his commanding officer – he and Megatron might have been comrades once, but those times were long past. But he found that as much as he tried he couldn't find a reason to hate Optimus. It was such a strange feeling, this not-hate.

And now all of Dinobot's provocation had only resulted in a few sharp words. It left him feeling baffled and his confidence that he _knew_ the way of the universe, slightly shaken.

* * *

**Background Notes:** The elephant-like creature Optimus saw was Deinotherium and the small equines were Hipparions. In my head-canon the series is set around 3 million years ago in the late Pliocene (I'm basing that on the australopithecine-like humans in _Code of Hero_).


End file.
